California's Most Iconic Road Trips for Summer 2026 — An RVezy Guide to Getting There Without the Drive

California invented the road trip. The state has more iconic routes, more extraordinary campgrounds, and more national parks than anywhere else in the country. This summer, as America marks its 250th anniversary, families across the country are looking at California and asking the same question: how do we actually do this?

The answer, for a growing number of families, is RV delivery. An RVezy owner brings a travel trailer directly to your campground, sets it up, and collects it when your trip is done. You drive to the destination in your own car. The RV is already there. No towing. No large vehicle on unfamiliar roads. Just the trip.

Here are the routes that matter most this summer, and how delivery makes every one of them more accessible.

Highway 1 from Los Angeles to San Francisco

There is no drive in America quite like Highway 1. The Pacific on one side, the cliffs on the other, and nothing between you and one of the most dramatic coastlines on earth. Driving it in a standard car is extraordinary. Experiencing it with a home base that moves with you is something else entirely.

The coastal stretch from Malibu through Big Sur to Monterey and up to San Francisco passes some of the most sought-after campgrounds in the state. El Capitan Canyon near Santa Barbara. Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. Kirk Creek Campground with its cliff-edge sites above the ocean. New Brighton State Beach near Santa Cruz.

For families who want to experience this corridor without navigating the tight coastal curves in a large vehicle, RVezy owners along the Highway 1 route offer delivery to campgrounds throughout the stretch. You choose your sites, book the delivery, and the trailer is waiting when you arrive. The drive you do is in your own car, at your own pace, stopping whenever the view demands it.

The Eastern Sierra and Yosemite

The Eastern Sierra is one of California's best-kept secrets. Mono Lake. Convict Lake. The Alabama Hills below Mount Whitney. Bishop, with its climbing and hiking and the kind of quiet that is genuinely hard to find anywhere near a major city. And at the northern end of the range, Yosemite Valley, which needs no introduction.

The campground options through the Eastern Sierra corridor are exceptional. Lundy Canyon. Twin Lakes near Bridgeport. June Lake Loop. For families arriving from Southern California or the Bay Area, the drive up Highway 395 is itself one of the great California experiences.

RVezy owners in the Central Valley and surrounding areas offer delivery throughout this corridor. Yosemite campgrounds fill months in advance, particularly in the Valley. Tuolumne Meadows and Wawona offer alternatives with more availability and a different, quieter character. A delivered trailer means your family arrives to a site that is already set up and ready. All that is left is the national park.

Joshua Tree and the Desert Southwest

Joshua Tree does things to people. The boulders. The silence. The way the stars look at 4am from outside an RV when there is no light pollution for fifty miles in any direction. Families who go once almost always go back.

The park sits at the convergence of the Mojave and Sonoran deserts, which means two distinct ecosystems in one place. The western high desert with its iconic Joshua trees and boulder formations. The lower Colorado Desert in the east, hotter and more sparse, with a different kind of beauty.

Campgrounds inside Joshua Tree fill fast, particularly Jumbo Rocks and Hidden Valley. RVezy owners in the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley offer delivery to sites throughout the area. For families flying into Palm Springs or Los Angeles, delivery means the trailer is already there when you land.

The Redwoods and the Northern California Coast

The coastal redwoods of Northern California are the tallest living things on earth. Standing among them is an experience that resets something in people. The forest floor is quiet. The light comes through in shafts. The scale of the trees makes everything else feel small in the best possible way.

The Redwood National and State Parks corridor runs along the Northern California coast from roughly Leggett to Crescent City, with campgrounds throughout. Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. Jedediah Smith Redwoods. Gold Bluffs Beach, where the trees meet the ocean. These are not well-known outside of California but they are among the most extraordinary places in the country.

RVezy owners in the region offer delivery to campgrounds throughout the Redwoods corridor. The drive north from the Bay Area on Highway 101 is itself a destination, passing through wine country, the Humboldt coast, and some of the most beautiful rural California landscape in the state.

How to Plan a Delivered RV Trip Along Any of These Routes

The planning process is the same regardless of which route you choose. Search delivery-enabled listings on RVezy, enter your destination and dates, and browse available travel trailers from owners who offer delivery to your campground. Each listing shows the delivery radius, any delivery fee, and the full trip cost before you commit.

Once booked, delivery logistics including campground address, arrival time, and setup details are confirmed with your owner through the RVezy app. On the day your trip starts, you drive to the campground. The owner has already been there. The trailer is level, hooked up, and ready.

More than 20,000 California RV owners have listed their vehicles for rent on RVezy. This summer, every route on this list is within reach.

FAQ

Which of these routes is best for a first-time RV family?

All of them are accessible with delivery, but Joshua Tree and the Eastern Sierra tend to be the most forgiving for first-timers. The campgrounds are generally more spacious, the access roads are straightforward, and the pace is more relaxed than the coastal routes. Yosemite is extraordinary but requires booking very far in advance. Highway 1 and the Redwoods are best for families who want a slower, more exploratory trip.

Do I need to book the campground separately from the RV?

Yes. Your campground reservation is separate from your RVezy booking. For peak summer destinations like Yosemite, Joshua Tree, and popular Highway 1 campgrounds, reservations through Recreation.gov or ReserveCalifornia should be made as early as possible, often months in advance. Your RVezy owner will confirm delivery details once you have your campground reservation confirmed.

Can I do multiple stops on one trip with a delivered RV?

Multi-stop trips are possible but require coordination with your owner around delivery and collection logistics. The most common approach is a single delivery to one campground for the duration of the trip, with day drives to nearby destinations. For families who want to move the trailer between sites, discuss this with your owner before booking to confirm it is feasible within their delivery radius.

What size travel trailer works best for a family of four?

Most families of four travel comfortably in a trailer between 24 and 30 feet with a dedicated sleeping area for the kids and a separate bedroom for the parents. Delivery removes any concern about towing a larger rig, so families can book a genuinely comfortable size rather than defaulting to whatever they feel capable of towing themselves.

What if something goes wrong during the trip?

RVezy's in-house support team is available in under five minutes, every day of the summer. Towing, mobile mechanics, lockouts, battery boosts, emergency accommodation, and meal replacement are all covered under RVezy's roadside and trip protection program, the most comprehensive in the peer-to-peer RV rental industry.

This summer, the routes that define California are open to any family willing to book the trip. The only question is which one to do first.

Browse delivery-available RVs across California

RVezy is North America's leading peer-to-peer RV rental marketplace. More than 20,000 California RV owners and over 100,000 Americans have listed their RVs for rent on the platform. The RVezy app is available on iOS and Android.